1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to agricultural equipment and more particularly to an improved machine for harvesting root row crops.
2. Prior Art
One class of edible crops, referred to herein as root row crops, comprise individual plants having edible root portions or bottoms within the soil or edible top portions above the ground. Common examples of such root row crops having edible roots are onions, radishes, turnips, beets, carrots, and the like. Common examples of root row crops having edible tops are parsely, turnip greens, mustard greens, and the like. Crops of this type are harvested by extracting the entire plants from the soil and, in some cases, trimming off nonedible portions of the plants.
A variety of harvesting machines have been devised for harvesting such root row crops. Examples of such machines are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,956,628, 3,721,301, 3,578,088, 3,548,951. Harvesting machines for such root row crops are also marketed throughout the world by a number of different companies. By way of example, one popular radish harvesting machine of this kind, known as a radish topper and combine, is marketed by Tawco Products Incorporated, Columbus, Ohio.
The existing root row crop harvesting machines are deficient in certain respects and it is the primary object of this invention to provide a harvesting machine which avoids these deficiencies. A major deficiency of most if not all of the existing harvesting machines, for example, involves the plant row spacing for which the machines are designed. Thus, stated in broad terms, a multiple plant row harvesting machine comprises a vehicle movable along the plant rows and a number of individual harvesting units mounted side by side on the vehicle for movement with the vehicle along a corresponding number of adjacent plant rows to be harvested. The spacing between centers of the adjacent plant rows obviously must conform to the center spacing of these harvesting units. In the case of most if not all root row crops of the character described, it is advantageous, in order to maximize crop production, to make the plant row spacing as small as possible. The minimum plant row spacing, of course, is determined by the minimum spacing of the harvesting units on the harvesting machine.
In the case of the existing root row crop harvesting machines, the minimum spacing between adjacent harvesting units of the machine is relatively large. By way of example, the center spacing between adjacent harvesting units of the Tawco radish harvesting machine referred to above is 9". This dimension sets a minimum 9" spacing between the adjacent radish plant rows. In contrast, the improved root row harvesting machine of this invention may be constructed with a 3" spacing between the adjacent plant row harvesting units. The present harvesting machine, therefore, effectively permits a three-fold increase in the yield of a given radish field, as compared to the yield which may be obtained with the existing radish harvesting machine. The harvesting machine of the present invention possesses other unique advantages and features of construction, as will appear from the ensuing description.